The First Amendment doesn't cover that. Idiot.
OK, so I haven't posted very much in the past couple of months. I have excellent excuses, including the fact that my wife and I are getting ready for our third baby. In fact, I didn't think I'd be posting again quite so soon. But then Cindy Sheehan comes along, and I can't keep my mouth shut.
I was interested to hear that "peace activist" (as she is always identified by the media) Cindy Sheehan had managed to get a ticket to Bush's State of the Union address last night. She pledged to be respectful, but I had my doubts.
It turns out that Sheehan was removed and arrested for wearing a T-shirt that said "2,245 dead." Incidentally, the wife of a US representative was ejected for wearing a "Support the Troops" T-shirt.
Sheehan, of course, sees this as just another example of the lengths to which Bush will go to further his fascist aims and strip Americans of their liberties. In a blog entry about the incident, she says
OK, you may retort, it's not the same. The restaurant is a private establishment and can set its own standards. Fine, I say: do you think a woman should be allowed to go to, say, an elementary school classroom (public property!!) and perform a striptease? Freedom of expression! Why not sit down and eat carrots in the middle of a superhighway? Freedom of expression!
The answer is, of course, that even in public places, the public has a right to set standards, to make it so that the actions of a few do not deny the rest the free and appropriate use of the property in question. If the Capitol has a ban on signs within its walls, that seems reasonable. How is a shirt with a big slogan different than a sign? I personally thought they should have ejected the representative in the fuschia dress, but I let that slide.
I know the woman lost a son. That doesn't mean she's not a lunatic and an idiot. I have no respect for her--I'll save it for the memory of her son.
State of the Union Cindy Sheehan Protest Bush Capitol First Amendment
I was interested to hear that "peace activist" (as she is always identified by the media) Cindy Sheehan had managed to get a ticket to Bush's State of the Union address last night. She pledged to be respectful, but I had my doubts.
It turns out that Sheehan was removed and arrested for wearing a T-shirt that said "2,245 dead." Incidentally, the wife of a US representative was ejected for wearing a "Support the Troops" T-shirt.
Sheehan, of course, sees this as just another example of the lengths to which Bush will go to further his fascist aims and strip Americans of their liberties. In a blog entry about the incident, she says
I am speechless with fury at what happened and with grief over what we have lost in our country...I was never told that I couldn't wear that shirt into the Congress. I was never asked to take it off or zip my jacket back up. If I had been asked to do any of those things...I would have, and written about the suppression of my freedom of speech later. [ed. note: Sure. Uh huh.] ...It doesn't occur to her, of course, that she IS saying whatever she wants and is NOT being censored in any way on this blog. For, as we all know, you can say whatever you want...just not wherever you feel like it. By this yardstick, we started to lose our liberties a long time ago, when certain "elitist" restaurants started being exclusionary and requiring jacket and tie. What about freedom of expression? Why shouldn't I be allowed to wear nothing but my smelly underwear in a snooty French bistro? I'm just expressing myself!
After I had my personal items inventoried and my fingers printed, a nice Sgt. came in and looked at my shirt and said, "2,245, huh? I just got back from there."
I told him that my son died there. That's when the enormity of my loss hit me. I have lost my son. I have lost my First Amendment rights. I have lost the country that I love. Where did America go? I started crying in pain.
OK, you may retort, it's not the same. The restaurant is a private establishment and can set its own standards. Fine, I say: do you think a woman should be allowed to go to, say, an elementary school classroom (public property!!) and perform a striptease? Freedom of expression! Why not sit down and eat carrots in the middle of a superhighway? Freedom of expression!
The answer is, of course, that even in public places, the public has a right to set standards, to make it so that the actions of a few do not deny the rest the free and appropriate use of the property in question. If the Capitol has a ban on signs within its walls, that seems reasonable. How is a shirt with a big slogan different than a sign? I personally thought they should have ejected the representative in the fuschia dress, but I let that slide.
I know the woman lost a son. That doesn't mean she's not a lunatic and an idiot. I have no respect for her--I'll save it for the memory of her son.
State of the Union Cindy Sheehan Protest Bush Capitol First Amendment
posted by Jeff at 2:46 PM
3 Comments:
Actually, I think you are the idiot. If you went to a “snooty French bistro” dressed inappropriately, I believe they would simply ask you to leave. I doubt they would have some fascist pig arrest you. Also, if you went to the State of the Union address wearing a pro-war T-shirt, they would also ask you to leave as they did Beverly Young, wife of Rep. C.W. Bill Young of Florida. Apparently, only wearers of anti-war T-shirts are arrested. The obvious conclusion is that if you agree with the President, you are treated civilly, but is you disagree, you are a criminal.
Wow. I had no idea I was such a threat to America. Maybe I should post about Cindy Sheehan every day.
It's always nice to call a police officer a "fascist pig"--it's a way to rile up the left without making any specific allegation of anything. Sheehan claims (and so far we only have her word) that he was rough with her, but then admits that he asked her to be careful with some stairs. She sees this as some sinister good-cop/bad-cop thing, but it's far more likely that the arresting officer felt more secure once he'd removed her from the gallery. What part of this makes him a "facist pig"?
And who knows about the decision to arrest or not to arrest? Perhaps you've never had to deal with a police officer patrolling a large public gathering. I see no reason why, for such a high-profile event, they should have had a very low threshold for removing someone. And in case you haven't read the followup reports, the charges against her have been dropped.
I saw her last night on CNN and she was complaining mostly about her four hour ordeal at the jail. Four hours, as if that's a long time. I've spent longer time in line at the DMV. If she thinks municipal America works faster than that, she really has no idea about the country of her birth. Either that, or she has someone else renew her driver's license.
Devon, kudos for actually giving me your name, but come on--"scared for our country's future"? I've got a neighbor who has a "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism" bumper sticker on his car, but it's clear from the other ones he sports that the only kind of dissent he means is anti-Bush. Do I bother you because my views are opposed to yours? Is that what makes me a threat? I'd argue that it's a sign of a healthy, diverse democracy.
As for giving away our civil liberties, perhaps you didn't read my initial post. This incident doesn't have anything to do with giving up the right to demonstrate (and, BTW, if it's the "people's house," why can't I book my next birthday party there?). Sheehan is claiming a right that does not exist and has not existed under American law--to do whatever she wants whenever and wherever she wants. Haven't you noticed that her removal has gotten her far more press attention than if she'd sat there mute? How's that for censorship?
I support her right to say what she wants to say, but there is a time and a place for such things. The State of the Union address is neither. I would have no problem with her organizing a protest outside of the Capital Building, or holding a news conference before or after the address, wearing her t-shirt.
My understanding is that she was first asked to cover up the t-shirt. She refused. So, she was asked to leave. She refused, and started to make a scene, which is when she was arrested. Beverly Young did what she was asked, which is why she wasn't arrested.
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